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Isatin the now empty smoking room, the smell of the party still lingering in the air, a mix of perfume, cologne, and hors d’oeuvres. Sinking into the armchair, I swirled a glass of whiskey in my hand and occasionally brought it to my lips. A fire crackled in the fireplace in front of me, and the portraits of my ancestors looked down at me. I felt remarkably like Father in that moment, something that was oddly disturbing to me. Everything about this day had gotten me out ofsorts.

My thoughts tookme back to when I’d kicked open the door to the coat room and saw him about to disappear into the ceiling. I hadn’t given much thought to how he’d looked at the time, but now I was wracking my brain, trying to remember every detail of his face. It came as a blur. He was handsome, I did remember that, with pale hair and intense blue eyes. He looked young. Definitely younger than I was. He was an omega; his eyes and fur gave that away. He was a criminal and thief, and also the owner of that pawprint.

Fated mate marksaren’treal.

Ifelt numb.I wanted to believe that it was a coincidence. There had to be thousands, perhaps millions of wolves with a missing pad on their paw, and it just so happened that I had a birthmark that carried that appearance. Something deep inside me knew that wasn’t the case, though. I could feel it in my gut, that it wasreal.

Hadn’tI wanted to believe it was real? Why was I trying to convince myself differentlynow?

What did it mean?

The doorto the smoking room creaked as it opened, jerking me out of my thoughts. I looked over my shoulder and saw it was Arthur. He walked over to the liquor table and poured himself a glass of whiskey out of one of the crystal decanters, and brought it over to the chair next to me. He groaned as he satdown.

“What a night,huh? I was this close, Christophe. This close.” He held up his hand, measuring an inch with his thumb and forefinger. “The daughter of the leader of the Golden Forest Clan.Sohot. Refined, with a naughty streak. You don’t meet many like that very often. Of all the nights we had to get fuckingrobbed.”

Ibreatheda laugh through my nose that was more just a mild acknowledgement. My thoughts were as far away from Arthur’s girl problems as they couldget.

“She askedme if there was a room we could be alone in, and I just said ‘pick one.’ We were going for it, and the alarm went off. I could’vejust—”

“Arthur?”

“What?”

“Do you believe in fated mates?”

He laughed.“For some people, maybe. Not me, though. I believe in… Fated mates for thenight.”

“Even if youhad a fated mates marking? What would youdo?”

He gave me a look.“Youwere told that you have one, and you don’t believe in that nonsense. Though, I guess if someone showed up bearing my mark, that’d be something. That certainly could be a mind changer. If I knew that person existed, I’d never stop until I met them.” He shrugged. “Or not. Why are you asking me this? You didn’t meet someone tonight after all, didyou?”

Ishook my head. “No.”

“Mm.”He swallowed his drink in one gulp. “Too bad. Nice job running that asshole down today, by the way. You were on him for nearly a mile. I’m impressed. Didn’t know you had that kind ofstamina.”

Arthur stared at me,waiting for me to retort, but I wasn’tinterested.

“Father taskedme to zip up the situation,” Isaid.

“No surprise.”

“He gave me full clan authority,”Iadded.

His eyes widened.“Damn. First time,huh?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Idon’t know.I’ve never had someone’s fate in my handsbefore.”

“IknowDad would make an example of him. Exile. Orworse.”

He stoodand patted my shoulder. “Gotta say, Christophe. I’m glad I’m not in your shoes. I don’t know how you handle all that pressure. I’ve got a lot of respect foryou.”

“Mm.”

Arthur left,returning me to the solitude of my thoughts. No, solitude wasn’t right.Hewas there, at the center of my thoughts. This man who I didn’t know. This omega. Thiscriminal.